Rees helps give Glamorgan stomach for the fight

Gareth Rees has a double first in physics and mathematics, but while he may know something about velocity, the split second it took for the ball to leave the middle of David Hussey's bat and reach silly point gave the Glamorgan fielder no time to think.

As Rees took evasive action, he was hit in the midriff and, in grasping his stomach, held on to the ball to take a catch which wrested the initiative away from Nottinghamshire after Hussey, who had twice been dropped the previous evening, had threatened to take control.

The leaders were 311 for five, 118 behind, with the Australian two runs away from his century. He had just hit the slow left-armer Dean Cosker for a six over long-off having mastered his timing on a flat, unresponsive wicket. Hussey leant into his shots rather than launching himself with a flourishing backlift, but the effect was the same with outfielders beaten even if the ball came within five yards of where they were standing.

Hussey's departure prompted a collapse with Cosker removing Graeme Swann after Paul Franks had run himself out. Cosker stood on the threshold of only his second five-wicket haul in a championship innings in an 11-year career, but it was his fellow spinner Robert Croft who finished off the tail to leave Glamorgan with a first innings lead of 65, a prospect which had looked unlikely at the start of the match and fanciful when the Welsh county had slumped to 193 for eight on the opening day. Glamorgan operated with only four bowlers after Michael O'Shea was sidelined by a back problem, and if they are to achieve their first victory of the season today, they will need Croft and Cosker to generate more bite and bounce than they did yesterday.

The off-spinner Swann, took three of the four Glamorgan wickets to fall after tea and the hosts finished the day 222 ahead with six wickets left, contemplating a target of 350 in 60 overs on the trail of the elusive win.